Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

The 2021 session of the Texas Legislature will commence Tuesday under pervasive uncertainty.

Lawmakers have been waiting for months to see how it will be conducted safely as the coronavirus pandemic rages. Both chambers are expected to convene at 12 p.m. Central time. Watch the House and Senate streams here.

And after a pro-Donald Trump mob rushed into the U.S. Capitol last week, leaving five people dead and leading to dozens of arrests, some Texas lawmakers are on edge about the potential for unrest in Austin. The Texas Department of Public Safety is deploying additional resources and personnel to the state Capitol, and Gov. Greg Abbott promised Monday that DPS will continue to remain on top of safety at the building.

Meanwhile, three clear top priorities have emerged for the agenda: the budget, redistricting and the pandemic. But it remains to be seen how much space or political appetite there will be for more polarizing proposals, especially among Republicans coming off a successful November election.

Given all that, here are the five things to watch as the session kicks off:

State legislatures across the country are looking for ways to conduct their business in spite of restrictions on indoor gatherings because of the coronavirus.

Already, two Texas House Democrats Michelle Beckley of Carrollton and Ana-Maria Ramos of Richardson have said they will not attend the opening day of the legislative session, calling the gathering of 150 House members a superspreader event.

For Tuesday, the Texas House and Senate have put in precautions for members and invited guests in each chamber; its unclear if leadership will relax such measures if the vaccine becomes more readily available.

In a last-minute change, the Department of Public Safety announced Monday that anyone who wants to enter the Capitol will be required to take a coronavirus test.

Beyond opening day, State Rep. Dade Phelan has asked a group of lawmakers to make recommendations and solicit input from members on what changes should be made to the chambers rules. The Senate, meanwhile, has been more tight-lipped on what precautions will be in place during the legislative session.

Since the Capitol closed in mid-March, both Democrats and Republicans from each chamber have raised questions about the accessibility of the legislative process. State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, asked the attorney general to weigh in on whether the Legislature has the power to close the Capitol and whether members could debate or vote on legislation from outside the chamber.

Some disability rights advocates, meanwhile, have raised concerns about the uncertain rules on testifying in committee hearings remotely and have expressed hesitancy about going to the Capitol in person.

Tackling the states current two-year budget and writing the next one will be one of the largest items on the Legislatures plate, though lawmakers received better-than-expected news Monday when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar unveiled the biennial revenue estimate.

On top of that, the Legislature will also need to redraw the states political maps, which is often a polarizing and draining process for lawmakers.

Lawmakers will also have to respond to the ongoing pandemic and address other policy issues that have been focal points throughout the pandemic, such as public education funding and health care. In 2019, the Legislature overhauled the states school finance system, infusing $6.5 billion more into public schools and roughly $5.1 billion to lower Texans property tax bills. State leaders have already said the Legislature will remain committed to continuing to fund those massive investments, regardless of the tough economic forecast.

Beyond that, debates over police funding and reforms following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed in Minneapolis police custody, are expected to play a central role during the legislative session.

The Texas Legislative Black Caucus has already unveiled the George Floyd Act, a sweeping reform proposal that would, among other things, ban chokeholds across the state and address qualified immunity, which shields government officials from litigation. Meanwhile, Abbott has said he is considering a measure that would put the state in charge of policing a large area of Austin, including the Texas Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin a move that came during a political fight against the capital city over its decision to trim its police budget.

After some Republicans argued that Abbott overstepped his authority over responding to the pandemic, proposals at the Legislature were filed to curb the emergency powers of a governor during a declared disaster. The more conservative faction of the GOP is also expected to again push a bill that would ban cities and local governments from using taxpayer dollars to lobby the state government after the measure failed during the 2019 session.

Lawmakers from both parties may also push election-related matters after fights over voter access and ballot integrity largely defined the lead up to the November presidential election.

And yearslong conversations over new revenue sources such as legalizing casinos or marijuana have also seemed to get a renewed focus, though its unclear how seriously lawmakers will consider such options after Hegars news Monday with a better-than-expected economic picture heading into session.

One of the Houses first orders of business Tuesday will be to formally elect a speaker. Phelan, who has served in the lower chamber since 2015, announced he had the votes to win the gavel in the hours after Election Day, after Republicans maintained control of the House.

Hes described among colleagues as a straight-shooter whos familiar with the legislative process and the policies at play, and who intends to lead the chamber by letting the members drive its business.

Beyond the budget and redistricting, Phelan said during an interview Monday with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith that public health issues that the pandemic has put a highlighter on what will be a focus this session, such as expanding telemedicine and telehealth and improving rural health care options for Texans.

Texas Republicans are beginning the session two months after a November election in which they beat expectations up and down the ballot, including holding on to their majority in the state House. Emboldened by the election results, will there be a renewed appetite among the most conservative in the party for hot-button issues, or will the Legislature continue on the middle-of-the-road policy path it stuck to for the 2019 session?

Early indications are that the Big Three Abbott, Patrick and Phelan are not spoiling for much intraparty conflict this session. That seems especially true with the trio of must-do issues already topping the legislative agenda: the budget, redistricting and responding to the pandemic.

Still, there is potential for some GOP family fights. Texas GOP Chairman Allen West plans to make an aggressive push for the partys eight legislative priorities, which include election integrity, the abolition of abortion and constitutional carry, or licenseless carry of firearms. Some of the priorities enjoy broad GOP support, others not as much.

Rallying support for the priorities Saturday outside the Capitol, West told Republicans he was preparing them for an ideological battlefield and that they needed to pressure lawmakers so that you can become a powerful force and let people know in that building that they work for you, that you dont work for them.

West himself has been a critic of Abbotts coronavirus decisions, and the former Florida congressman is already being discussed as a possible challenger to the governor.

To that end, the 2022 primary season could also loom large over Republicans this session. Most statewide officials are up for reelection, including Abbott and Patrick, and their agendas could reflect how they would like to position themselves for March 2022.

One issue that could impact whether the GOP engages in such a fight is whether it holds onto its complete control of the Senate.

Right now, Senate rules require 19 members, or three-fifths of the body, to vote to bring legislation to the floor. With the reelection defeat of Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, there are only 18 Republicans in the chamber.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, however, has announced his intention to lower the threshold to align with the size of the GOP majority a move that effectively strips Senate Democrats of the one tool they have to block legislation they unanimously oppose.

Patrick doesnt have unilateral control of the Senate thresholds fate. Such a change requires a simple majority 16 senators to go into effect. Its not immediately clear how many Republican senators are in favor of such a move, while some Democrats have already denounced Patricks latest procedural proposal.

To be clear, this isnt the first time Patrick oversaw a decrease in the threshold. During his first session as lieutenant governor in 2015, the Senate dropped the threshold from two-thirds, or 21 members, to three-fifths, or 19 members. At that time, there were 20 Republican senators.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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2021 Texas legislative session begins today. Heres what to watch. - The Texas Tribune

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This is the second article in a series of three on Brazils Black Coalition for Rights and the first in our year-long reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. Follow our Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas series here.

On December 31, 2020, the last day of the year, with almost 200,000 lives lost to Covid-19 in the country, in a pandemic that in Brazil kills more black people, 81 leaders from black movements across the country recorded a video manifesto to send their message to the Brazilian people. It is yet another action to confront racism carried out by the Black Coalition for Rights, a political network with advocacy reaching Brazils National Congress and international forums. The Coalition brings together over 150 collectives, institutions, and entities of the Brazilian black movement today.

In the video Manifesto of the Black Coalition for Rights | For a Truly Anti-Racist 2021, the Coalition states that 2020 will be remembered for each of the lives torn apart by the coronavirus pandemic, sending condolences to each of the families, while also emphasizing that 2020 will also be remembered for the fight and resistance of the black movement, which has occupied the public debate like never before.

In 2021, the fight against racism and for black lives continues! This is the manifesto of the Black Coalition for Rights.

After two years in existence, and already having produced 54 public documents and several strategic mobilizations to confront racismamong them the denunciation of rights violations in a package of legislative anti-crime proposals and the #WithRacismThereIsNoDemocracy manifesto and campaignthe Black Coalition for Rights has been exerting strategic pressure on the national agenda and in public debates against racism and on race in Brazil.

The already-historic manifesto As long as there is racism, there will be no democracy! is one of the most important documents in the history of the black movement in Brazil. In six months, 59,166 people signed the manifesto in support of the campaign. Among them are 132 signatures of Brazilian personalities (black and white), one for each year since the abolition of slavery in Brazil.

The Black Coalition for Rights as a political movement is a baobab of voices that unites the points in a long history and present-day articulation of Brazils Black movement. RioOnWatch interviewed some of these voices. To all of them, we asked, What is your voice and the place of your voice within the Black Coalition for Rights?

In this article, we present a small cartography of voices who participate in the Black Coalition for Rights: the organized black population; black women, favela residents; people from urban peripheries; LGBTQIA +; Catholics; evangelicals; those who follow religions of African origin; quilombolas (descendants of enslaved Africans who remain on their ancestral lands); people from the countryside, water, and forest; and workers who are exploited, informal, and unemployed, as presented in the first paragraph of the manifesto As Long as There is Racism, There Is No Democracy.

Hailing from So Paulo, born in 1978, Douglas Belchior earned a degree in history from the Catholic University of So Paulo. He is co-founder of Uneafro Brasil, a network of courses for young people and adults from urban peripheries, and co-founder of the Black Coalition for Rights.

I am from an organization called Uneafro. My voice is the fruit of the historical construction of a movement that had objective results for Brazilian society. I am one of those who fought for public policies to ensure access to universities. I graduated amidst the struggle for affirmative action. My training was alongside the black movement, accompanying its leaders. Because of that, I consider myself a voice of continuity. I see myself as someone who received his diploma, as they say in [the play] The Mountaintop by Lazro Ramos and Tas Arajo who received the baton from his elders to continue this school of struggle of the organized black movement: continuity of work and of political accumulation. I claim my voice in this place. A voice of a black man, father of girls and boys. A voice also of transition in terms of racial and gender identity. I am a voice that manages to dialogue with older people, providing continuity, and also with this younger generation of black collectives in universities. Perhaps that is why I have taken on a seaming role in the Coalition.

Hailing from Pelotas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Winnie Bueno is a 32-year-old feminist writer and founder of Winniteca, a book distribution program that promotes change against racism. She is also a PhD student in sociology and Iyalorix of Il Ay Orish Yemanj.

I participate in the Black Coalition from a place and knowledge that is very affection-based, of who comes with the trajectory of claiming the figures of the black movement, especially the women of the black movement, acting in dialogue with social media. My mother took me, from the age of six, to meetings of the black movement in the 1990s. I joined the Coalition in 2019 representing Renafro [the National Network of Afro-Brazilian Religions and Health]. Despite the discussion of religious racism playing a huge role in my childhood and in my life, I have dialogue with youth. I see my voice as a bridge for an intergenerational dialogue between the younger generation and the more established leaders, the older ones, although I am not so young anymore. The Brazilian black movement has always had a historical articulation. It has never been passive! It has always been, and it is, active. Claims based on the prospect of democracy that has been inscribed in the national context since 1988, the denunciation of all these systems of domination from the point of view of racism, all this is laid out by the political activity of the black movement. But there has always been a silencing about this, which is part of and shapes [Brazilian] racism.

Native to Rio de Janeiro, Anielle Franco holds masters degrees in journalism and English from the University of North Carolina (USA) and an undergraduate degree in literature from the State University of Rio (UERJ). Today she works as a teacher, writer, and lecturer. She is a columnist at web portal UOL and is the current director of the Marielle Franco Institute, in Rio de Janeiro.

Since 2018, I see myself in this place in which I feel obligated, not in a bad way, but still obligated, to have a more active voice in what we believe in. When we [the Marielle Franco Institute] join the Coalition, I assume once and for all the voice that speaks and that tries to inspire other black women to follow as we have followed even in the face of this enormous mourning that has become this emptiness in our lives after the death of my sister. My voice today represents a large part of this country, but I am not the only one to represent it because we really inspire many people today. But there is also the other side to it: the hatred. We know that it exists, but we try not to let it carry us away because our voice, the voice of the Marielle Institute outside and inside of the Coalition, is a voice that echoes all over the world, it is a voice of dispute of narratives, of maintenance of histories and legacies, whatever they may be. So I would say that my voice is on this path of inspiring new leadership in the organized black movement. Ofmaking sure that no other fake news appears and tries to kill Mari once again, as they already have done, or to kill any other black body and legacy. My voice as a Coalition participant is on the way to show that the more silence there is, the more it hurts us. It is a voice to ring out and frontally combat this racist and unequal system, which insists on erasing who Marielle was, but not only her. Which insists on erasing who we are and our roots erasing where we come from and where we go and can go.

A native of So Paulo, Ariovaldo Ramos is an evangelical pastor from the Reformed Christian Community of So Paulo. He is the former president of the Brazilian Evangelical Association and one of the founders of the Front of Evangelicals for the Rule of Law.

I speak on behalf of a broad collective, from this place and group of the black movement, which is enormous. The majority of black Brazilians identify as evangelicals, mostly Pentecostals. And the majority of evangelicals in Brazil are black. There are more than 8 million of us. This is my place of voice and representation. We are in the Black Coalition for Rights because our big problem, and not only of black people, but of groups of resistance in Brazil, is that we create a profusion of entities with each onehaving its own specificities. Although this is positive in one respect, it pulverizes our voice. Separated, our voices do not create the necessary repercussion to enforce the defense of our rights together with State institutions. Our voice loses strength. That is why the Coalition is extremely important, it unifies the noise. It reverberates the sound of the black community as a whole,demandingan anti-racist posture by the Brazilian State. It transforms our voices into a power that cannot fail to be heard. This is what the Black Coalition for Rights does.

Native to Belm do Par, Darlah Farias is a 32-year-old lawyer and activist in the black movement. She is a member of the Commission on Women and Human Rights of the Brazilian Bar Association in the state of Par (OAB-PA). She is also a member of the Black Shoe Collective Black Amazon Lesbians of Belm do Par and of the Par Center of Studies and Defense of Blacks (Cedenpa). Both institutions are part of the Black Coalition for Rights.

My voice is that of a black, lesbian woman from the Amazon. It is an important voice like all the others, but it becomes important for us to bring to the front because it shows in practice what the black movement always talks about: that we are not homogeneous, but heterogeneous. There are many facets of the fight of the black movement. The representativity that I bring through my speech and body is, in fact, my territoriality, because as an Amazonian woman I bring the visibility of a black Amazon. We have a self-declared black [and brown] population of 71.9% here in the Amazon. So my participation in the Coalition brings the voice that speaks of this place: of a black, cisgender lesbian woman who brings the agenda of sexuality to the discussion for us also to debate and combat the LGBTphobia that still exists in society and within the black movement.

For all of the voices from the Black Coalition for Rights, racism and the lack of racial equality in Brazil is secular. However, beginning in the current government, the racist scenario has advanced in concrete political practices, such as the 2019 funding cut of allocations to quilombola communities and the reduction of funding for the Confront Racism and Promote Racial Equality program.

This is why voices of the different black movements in Brazil have entered into a coalition (a political pact) to shout that with racism there is no democracy and to fight for an anti-racist democracy. It is necessary that all sectors of society be coherent and practice what they preach, as once again pointed out in the anti-racist manifesto launched on December 31.

Original art for the article by Raquel Batista

About the author: Tatiana Lima is a journalist and popular communicator at heart. A black feminist, member of Complexo do Alemos Researchers in Motion Research Group, she works as a reporter and social network manager for RioOnWatch.Raised in a favela,a light-skinned black woman, she lives in the peripheralasfalto (area outside the favela) in the Rio de Janeiro suburbs and is a doctoral student in communication at the Fluminense Federal University.

About the artist: Raquel Batista is a visual artist and works as a photographer and illustrator. She is a student at the Federal University of Rios School of Fine Arts, a black woman, and resident of Rios West Zone.

This is the second article in a series of three on Brazils Black Coalition for Rights and the first in our year-long reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. Follow our Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas series here.

Original post:

Brazil's Organized Black Movement Today: Voices from the Black Coalition for Rights #UprootingRacism - RioOnWatch

by Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Jan 14, 2021 / 05:45 pm MT (CNA).- Pope Francis might soon choose a new Archpriest of St. Peters Basilica, to replace Cardinal Angelo Comastri, who turned 77 in September. His replacement, according to Vatican observers, may bring a broader generational change that could involve at least five Vatican dicasteries.

Comastri, who had a private audience with Pope Francis on Jan. 11, is a well-known preacher whose books are good sellers. During the lockdown due to the pandemic, Cardinal Comastri began to pray the rosary at noon in St. Peters Basilica.

St. John Paul II appointed Comastri as his general vicar for the Vatican City State, President of the Fabric of St. Peter, and coadjutor Archpriest of St. Peters Basilica in 2005. In 2006, Benedict XVI appointed Comastri Archpriest of the St. Peters Basilica. He succeeded Cardinal Francesco Marchisano.

One clue of Comastris upcoming retirement is Pope Francis decision to postpone the election of the members of the Chapter of St. Peter, the college of priests that governs the Basilica under the guidance of the archpriest. The elections were supposed to take place at the end of the summer or during the fall, but the Pope asked to hold them after Jan. 11.

The Archpriest of St. Peters Basilica is in charge of the worship and pastoral activity of the basilica. The position is very ancient and has always been assigned to a cardinal. Since 1991, the Archpriest of the St. Peters Basilica is also the Popes vicar for the Vatican City State.

The position is important not only because the Archpriest is one of the Popes closest collaborators, but also because he manages and organizes the worship of the most emblematic temple in the Catholic world.

St. Peters Basilica includes 45 altars and 11 chapels, while the Vatican Grotto has several Marian chapels.

The daily Mass schedule in St. Peters Basilica lists one Mass per hour from 9 to 12 am, in Italian, at the Altar of the Chair. There is another Mass in Italian at 8.30 am at the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament, while every day at 5 pm, there is a Mass in Latin.

On Sundays, there are 5 Masses celebrated in Italian and one in Latin.

Beyond the regular Mass schedule, there is the possibility to celebrate Mass in every chapel of St. Peters Basilica. The chapels are booked by groups of pilgrims or individuals who celebrate Mass in their own language. In fact, every day, St. Peters Basilica is filled with celebrations in several languages at the same time.

The new Archpriest will be called to manage this. Will he keep things as they are?

There is a broad discussion among members of the Chapter of the Basilica regarding whether to keep the possibility to celebrate private masses in the Basilica or instead ruling that the pilgrims who want to take part in a Mass must be at the Masses already scheduled. The debate is also about a possible abolition of the daily Mass in Latin. The Mass is celebrated according to the Paul VI missal, so it is not a Mass in the extraordinary form.

A Vatican source with knowledge of the facts, who asked to remain anonymous, stressed with CNA that these discussions were also behind the power struggle that led to allegations of mismanagement at the Fabric of St. Peter. This institution takes care of the maintenance of St. Peters Basilica.

Following these allegations and investigation initiated by the Vatican prosecutor, Pope Francis made the unprecedented decision to put the Fabric of St. Peter under an extraordinary commissioner, Archbishop Mario Giordana.

According to Vatican sources, there seems to be two candidates to replace Comastri. One is Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner. Krajewski is in the Popes inner circle, and the Pope strongly appreciates his work for the poor. Among his initiatives are the installation of showers for the homeless in the St. Peter colonnade, the opening of two dormitories for the homeless in Vatican facilities around St. Peter Basilica, and the doctor and barbershop services on the side of the colonnade.

The other candidate would be Cardinal Mauro Gambetti. Cardinal Gambetti was the exiting Custodian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi. A Franciscan Conventual, Gambetti has no posts assigned yet. After his creation as cardinal, he went back to Assisi, waiting for the Popes call.

If Gambetti indeed becomes Comastris successor, his appointment could be the first step in a generational change in several Vatican top positions. Cardinals Marc Ouellet, Leonardo Sandri, Luis Ladaria, Giuseppe Versaldi, Beniamino Stella, and Giuseppe Bertello are all older than the retiring age. The pope could be already looking for their successors at the helm respectively of the Congregation for Bishops, for the Eastern Churches, for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Catholic Education, for the Clergy, and at the Vatican City State administration.

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What changes to the Vatican may the replacement of the Archpriest of St Peter's Basilica bring - The Catholic Telegraph

Byline Times Chief Medical Officer, Dr John Ashton, considers the continuing challenges ahead in the Coronavirus pandemic despite the development of a vaccine

As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are faced with a bleak mid-winter.

With the numbers of new Coronavirus cases escalating daily, hospitals and intensive care units are at breaking point. Staff absences are running at more than 20% from COVID-19 through self-isolation from the virus and stress-related conditions. Seriously ill patients are being shipped around the country. But, following the Prime Ministers lax approach on gatherings during Christmas in parts of the country, the worst is sadly still to come.

The death toll stands at more than 1,000 people each day and the grim total is heading towards 100,000 people before the end of January. So much for the Governments Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallances optimistic target of less than 20,000 deaths that he espoused in March, along with his naive embrace of herd immunity.

But it is not all doom and gloom and we must celebrate the remarkable achievement of clinicians and scientists around the world collaborating to produce effective vaccines less than a year after the Coronavirus made its unwelcome appearance.

Coming exactly 100 years after virology came into existence during the period of the influenza pandemic of 1918-19, this is surely the moment when the new discipline has come of age and can be added to the time-tested methods of practical, shoe-leather public health in rooting out and preventing death from natures most devious allies.

Yet, there is many a slip between cup and lip as can be seen from the story of the eradication of smallpox. It took the best part of 200 years from when Edward Jenner first demonstrated the effectiveness of cowpox inoculation against its most dangerous viral relative in 1796, to when the World Health Organisation was able to declare the demise of the virus in 1980. In the interim, efforts at mass vaccination ran into the sands of highly organised opposition.

Although smallpox vaccination was made compulsory for all newborn infants in Britain in 1853, branches of the Anti-Vaccination League soon brought it to a halt. From its centre in Leicester, the league organised a highly successful campaign against vaccination culminating in a large-scale demonstration in 1885, which led to a Royal Commission and the abolition of compulsory vaccination.

The basis of objections to vaccination were to be found in religious superstition and fear of needles, together with arguments about personal liberty and an anti-science movement which seems to have gathered even more momentum today at a time when science has given us greater insights into the natural world than ever before.

It remains to be seen whether the 80% of the population willing to welcome COVID-19 vaccines with open arms will have their public health rights compromised by a fanatical minority.

But it is not only the anti-vaxxers that should arouse our concerns. We must also be aware of the disastrous failures of the Government to take decisive and effective action at each point in the pandemic.

Whether it be testing, tracing and support for isolation, personal protective equipment, or leading from the front and implementing effective interventions in a timely way, the Government has been found wanting.

We are about to see whether the defining characteristic of the handling of the emergency in over-promising and under-delivering is about to be repeated with the roll-out of the vaccination programme.

After a nationalistic rush to be the first out of the blocks with a vaccine in December and implying by sleight of hand that a German-developed vaccine was somehow British the programme has struggled to get into its stride with some 300,000 vaccinations being given out each week.

We are now being asked to believe that, within a week, this will become 300,000 vaccines daily, that all care home residents will have been vaccinated by the end of January, and that the 13.5 million most vulnerable citizens will be protected by mid-February.

These ambitious targets are all too reminiscent of Boris Johnsons wild promises at other points of the pandemic, as well as Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancocks confabulation of the difference between capacity and delivery with regards to the Test and Trace operation last year.

Meanwhile, the alibis for failure are already being lined up vaccine manufacturers unable to deliver on the changing production promises, and GPs who say they are being let down by the supply side of the equation.

Setting aside that GPs had previously claimed that they could deliver the vaccination programme without recourse to reinforcements whilst simultaneously being under the cosh for all the extra work thrown up by COVID-19,they were also being promised 10 a shot for delivering vaccinations in contrast to the 11 an hour for the army of vaccinators who were supposed to do the actual work. It has now emerged that the recruitment of the army is also faltering.

Initially, the NHS advertised that non-clinical workers as well as retired doctors and nurses could sign up to be vaccinators to staff an extensive network of vaccination centres around the country. It has subsequently transpired that a Government that could reconvene at the drop of a hat to get Brexit done could not pull off the same trick to authorise the training of non-clinical professionals.

What finally seems to have caught the Prime Ministers fleeting attention has been letters to the broadsheet newspapers from retired clinicians drawing attention to the bureaucratic process that even the most experienced clinician must navigate in order to join the army of jabbers. These include hours of arcane online training, only some of it relevant in a national emergency but including fire safety, guidance on heavy lifting and preventing terrorism, followed up by the need to search out educational verification in the form of 50-year-old O Level certificates.

It is said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce. As it stands, it is a toss-up between the Government and the anti-vaxxers when it comes to who will attract the most historical opprobrium.

Dr John Ashton is a former director of public health and the author of Blinded By Corona

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Will an Unholy Alliance of Anti-Vaxxers and Government Incompetence Grab Defeat from the Jaws of Victory? - Byline Times

Plymouths key cultural facility has been literally turned around to face the future. The original grand Victorian entrance into the museum and art gallery from North Hill, which was forbidding and told nothing of its contents, has been replaced by a glass atrium entrance facing a new square on the other side of the building.

The group of ships figureheads visible in the entrance foyer is a clear signal that The Box is in a maritime city. There is also the welcoming sight of visitors in the foyer cafe. In summer, tables will be available on a terrace and, no doubt, the square will be used for events.

The Box is more than just a museum. The building houses facilities that were spread across the city, including the South West Film and Television Archive and the South West Image Bank, as well as those that were already on the site, including the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office and the Plymouth Natural History Collection. One of the most exciting things about this development is the chance for creating symbiotic relationships for the public between these organisations.

Rather than exiting through the gift shop, visitors go through it to reach the galleries. This leads to what was the original entrance to the museum, where one of six contemporary works created as part of the Making It commissions is located. Figurehead II, by Alexandre da Cunha, consists of four huge sections of concrete drainage pipe stacked six metres tall a structure with inviting holes in it that was being explored by children when I was there.

Three gallery spaces lead off this. On entering the first, visitors are greeted by Plymouths life-size model of a mammoth. Interactive displays, and cases holding artefacts, tell stories about the geology of the south-west peninsular, those who lived there from prehistoric times, and its flora and fauna.

Visitors then move into the Port of Plymouth galleries, where a 3D film sequence on a giant screen reveals the port citys role in Britains history. This leads to displays telling the story of Plymouths industries and naval heritage, which is well illustrated with images and oral history.

The 100 Journeys gallery features travellers who departed from Plymouth as well as famous explorers such as the Tudor sea captain and explorer Francis Drake, the 19th-century evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin on the Beagle, the 20th-century explorer Scott of the Antarctic, and Francis Chichester, the pioneering aviator and sailor who solo-circumnavigated the world in 1967 in his boat, Gipsy Moth IV. The intrepid Gertrude Benham, an explorer and mountaineer, is also included. She donated 800 items to the museum in 1934, after having travelled to 60 countries.

All these history-changing events also remind us of the negative journeys that Plymouth has been part of. For instance, it was the port from which the Tolpuddle Martyrs were transported to Australia. And Plymouths part in the slave trade and its abolition is not ignored. Colonial slavery shaped modern Britain and we live with its legacies this is an important sentence in a display case devoted to John Hawkins, one of the originators of the slave trade. The journal of Arthur Frankland, the Plymouth captain of an anti-slavery ship, sits alongside a display of manacles and plans of slave ships a reminder of the appalling conditions that victims of the slave trade endured.

The principal gallery on the second floor contains the Mayflower 400 exhibition, on until September 2021. The importance of this show cannot be overstated, not just because of the significance of the objects, which include the first Bible to be printed in America, Mayflower memorabilia and photos of descendants of the passengers, but also because of the involvement of people from the Wampanoag nation.

The Wampanoag people are an indigenous American population who formerly occupied parts of what are now the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In a message that should be spread widely, Paula Peters of the Mashpee Wampanoag nation writes: I do not hold you responsible for the past, but I do hold you responsible for the future.

There are three distinct elements in the Our Art gallery. One wall shows works on the theme of the artists studio. Highlights are Stanhope Forbes 1884 painting, A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach, which is shown alongside studies for the work, and items from the studio of the 18th-century portraitist Joshua Reynolds, who was born and bred in Plymouth. Reynolds recently conserved self-portrait is also on show.

The second element is a floor-to-ceiling display containing ceramics, pottery, plates and figurines. The third part is the Plymouth Panorama, which comprises around 30 paintings depicting scenes along the coastline from the River Plym to the River Tamar. These are displayed three-deep on high walls. This allows a large number of paintings to be shown in a small area, the disadvantage being that many are hard to see at a distance.

When I visited, the Media Lab and the Photo Album spaces, which showcase film and photography, were proving popular with visitors. Media Lab shows the development of film and television as well as a sequence of film, featuring everything from the Beatles visit to Plymouth to Barbara Hepworth at work. The relevance to local people was brought home when I heard one visitor say: Oh look! Theres Sues mum!

The exhibition in the Photo Album gallery, Plymouth: the Five Towns, consists of 200 photographs displayed on giant lightboxes. This will facilitate the changing the selections from the vast collection held by The Box.

The Active Archives space provides visitors with a chance to explore some of the holdings of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, including reference books. Items on display enable visitors to explore the development of Plymouth following its bombing in the second world war. This space leads into the Cottonian Room, where researchers will be able to order items from the archive.

On the other side of the new square is the restored church of St Lukes, which now provides a space for changing exhibitions of contemporary art. The opening show is of sculptural work by the Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes, who was commissioned to design a new window for the church. The window, made of multicoloured glass, is a glorious enhancement of the space.

There is so much more to explore at The Box, such as the community figurehead project display that can be seen from the cafe, and the powerful Ship of Fools works by the contemporary portraitist Kehinde Wiley in the Arts Institute. Is a day enough to do justice to The Box? No its a place to visit regularly, savouring one element at a time. It is a vital addition to cultural provision in the West Country.

Plymouth City Council; Arts Council England; National Lottery Heritage Fund

Masterplanning, exhibition design and graphic design

Richard Rogers Conservation

Orbis; Mainmast; Hugh Harrison; The Box

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Sailing into the future | The Box, Plymouth - Museums Association

While deprecating the separation of a place from its history, novelist Alan Moore rightly said: A place is much more than the bricks and mortar that go into its construction. I think its more than the accidental topography of the ground it stands on. With the apex court giving its stamp of approval to the Rs 2,000 crore Central Vista project it includes a glittering new Parliament to be built at a cost of Rs 971 crore an analysis of the Narendra Modi governments track record on respecting Parliaments soul and substance is relevant. Has the BJP and the Modi government imbibed the true spirit of our temple of democracy or have they treated it as a necessary evil, to be formally bowed down to while increasingly marginalising it?

During last years budget session, Parliament was allowed to work despite the COVID-19 outbreak because the MP Assembly had to be summoned for the formation of a BJP government against the popular mandate. A full-fledged monsoon session was convened when the virus was at its peak in Delhi because anti-farmer ordinances had to be ratified. Almost all states had their Assembly sessions during the pandemic, exposing the COVID-19 excuse for curtailing Parliament as the fig leaf it was. But when farmers, not allowing the winter to dampen their resolve, sit on roads demanding restoration of MSP for their produce, the winter session of Parliament becomes dispensable. If Parliament is not allowed to become the appropriate forum for the consideration of demands that affect nearly two-thirds of the countrys population, it can hardly qualify as democracys heartbeat, one that was Nehrus priority, the subject of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayees undying respect and, indeed, PM Modis floor-kissing obeisance, when he first entered its hallowed portal.

Perhaps, BJPs social and political agendas take precedence over such democratic pillars. In 2017, the winter session was delayed because of the Gujarat Assembly elections. Since the government is currently investing all its energy in election management in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry, it has no time for Parliament. Political priorities seem to have replaced constitutional propriety. The government is fully aware that people across the country are agitated. Therefore, despite the pendency of many important pieces of legislations the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, Dam Safety Bill, 2019, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, 2020, Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019, Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2019 the winter session has been guillotined.

The BJPs undermining of Parliament has a long legacy in its relatively short life as a ruling party. Its policies and actions have frequently been antithetical to Parliamentary democracy. In Opposition, its disruption of parliamentary proceedings and blockage of legislations was elevated to a fine art remember the vigorous defence of disruption as a legitimate democratic tool by the late Arun Jaitley. During the 2013 budget session, of the 163 hours available, 146 hours were lost due to disruptions by the BJP.

Since 2014, there have been more subtle stratagems to undermine Parliament. Ordinance, as the preferred legislative route, is being misused as a constitutional tool and Parliament is increasingly ceasing to be a place for debates. Important bills are moved and passed on the same day or rushed through, thus depriving members of their parliamentary rights to contribute effectively. During the 2018-19 budget, 100 per cent of the demands for grants were passed without discussion. The Farm Bills passage was the apogee of all brazen violations and subterfuges.

Parliament has an effective committee system and new bills introduced in the House are generally referred to department-related standing committees for detailed scrutiny. Having been privileged to chair such a committee, one of us (Singhvi) can testify to their sterling non-partisan contributions. Invited domain experts also scrutinise the bills. In the 14thand 15th Lok Sabhas, 60 per cent and 71 per cent bills, respectively, were referred to such committees, whereas in the 16th Lok Sabha, only 25 per cent bills were referred. Not a single bill has been referred to committees in 2020.

Accountability and scrutiny have unfortunately been perceived as irritants by the Modi government. Subversion of the constitutional spirit was evident when the Aadhaar Bill was certified as a Money Bill. Having nothing to do with the imposition, abolition or alteration of taxes nor with financial obligations of the government, it was so certified simply to avoid Rajya Sabha scrutiny. That issue is now pending before a larger apex court bench, but judicial delays are inevitably used to bypass Parliament. During the last monsoon session, the Question Hour was suspended to avoid legislative scrutiny. If every other business could be transacted in both the Houses, there was no plausible reason to suspend the Question Hour except avoiding processes designed to hold the government to account.

The Modi governments decision to freeze the entire MPLAD funds scheme was less about economics or welfare and much more about politics. The impact was disproportionately larger on Opposition MPs who, being out of power, will have no say in any development work in his/her area. Despite marginal aberrations and abuses, the MPLAD scheme, to the co-authors (Singhvi) knowledge as a three term MP, has surpassed all expectations at the grassroots. Meanwhile, there is the unaudited PM Care Fund to take care of the ruling dispensation. Hopefully, the new Central Vista will signify a more meaningful realisation of the true ethos and pulsating spirit of Parliamentary democracy and not merely creation of brick, mortar and concrete structures.

This article first appeared in the print edition on January 14, 2021 under the title Running away from House. Singhvi is a three-term sitting MP, former chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee and senior national spokesperson, Congress; Shergill is a Supreme Court lawyer and national spokesperson, INC. Views are personal

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The government and BJP have consistently undermined Parliament - The Indian Express

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Media: Fianna Dickson, 625.6297. Riverfront: 311 or 509.625.6600

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 2:03 p.m.

SPOKANE Beginning Monday, January 11, 2021, signs providing resources and support for human trafficking victims will be placed at Riverfront Park.

The signs are produced in collaboration with Lutheran Community Services Northwest, the Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce, and Spokane City Council member Candace Mumms office.

The Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce has been working for a decade towards abolition of human trafficking, and these signs are one tool we have towards outreach, intervention, and prevention, said Candace Mumm, member of the Spokane City Council.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward issued a proclamation encouraging citizens to become more informed on this growing problem, to be vigilant and report suspicious activity, and to work towards solutions to end trafficking in all its forms in our community.

Lutheran Community Services Northwest and members of the Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce are very appreciative of the City of Spokane's support on sexual and labor trafficking exploitation public education, said Mabel Elsom, Lutheran Community Services Northwest victim advocate. These signs will not only bring awareness of human trafficking to our area but will allow survivors to get immediate information for assistance, support, and advocacy. LCSNorthwest'smission ofHealth, Justice, and Hopeis in alignment with the task force mission statement; to abolish all forms of human trafficking through education, prevention and intervention by working collaboratively to provide advocacy, support, empowerment, healing, and justice.

Human trafficking is a critical issue, and these signs at Riverfront will support a growing awareness of problem, provide ways to report suspicious activity, and connect victims with resources, said Garrett Jones, Director of Parks and Recreation.

Nearly 20 signs will be placed around Riverfront Park; some will be placed now, and others as more buildings and additional restrooms re-open as COVID-19 guidelines allow. Additional signs will be placed at other City of Spokane parks and Spokane area locations in the months to come.

About City of Spokane Parks and Recreation

City of Spokane Parks and Recreation stewards nearly 120 properties across 4,000 acres of park land, including manicured parks, conservation lands, aquatic centers, golf courses, sports complexes, and an arboretum. We also offer hundreds of recreation opportunities for all ages and abilities to improve the health and quality of life for our community. Enjoy all your city has to offer by visiting spokaneparks.org. Follow us @SpokaneParks on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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Human Trafficking Support Signs Placed at Riverfront Park - City of Spokane

Labour housing spokesperson Thangam Debbonaire has released details of a letter seeking further clarity and commitments on the rental sector eviction process - she sent it to the Housing Secretary before Christmas but has yet to receive a reply.

The letter, which Debbonaire has put on Twitter, was dated December 22 and demandsinformation on a range of housing issues.

With regard to evictions, she writes:

Evictions of People in the private rented sector: We have all appreciated the bans on evictions of people who have lost income and are struggling to pay rent this year. I also accept the need for landlords, particularly social landlords, to be able to evict people who are causing serious nuisance or harassment or worse to their neighbours.

However, the continuing economic crisis, the gaps between the financial support schemes and the difficulties faced by people on precarious and insecure incomes means that there are many people who are behind with their rent and continue to struggle.

There are others who have managed to pay but are still at risk of landlords using Section 21 to evict them. Abolishing Section 21 was a Tory manifesto and Queens Speech commitment and we would work with you to ensure it passes quickly.

An extension to the protections from eviction for tenants who have lost income as a result of Covid is also vital. Additionally the fear of losing 20 per week Universal Credit in spring is causing families concern. The cost of providing emergency and long-termaccommodation for those who present as homeless at their councils is considerable. The health risks of some people ending up win the streets are clear.

Then Debonnaire adds, with this emphasis:

Will you act now to ensure that people have the help they need to be protected from eviction from their homes? Will you commit to bringing forward the promised legislation toend Section 21 urgently in the new year?

There has been no response from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick to the letter, although the government has frequently made clear that the Section 21 abolition, as part of the Renters Reform Bill, will be a priority once Parliamentary time allows after the Coronavirus peaks have been passed.

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Section 21 Abolition - Labour offers to work with Tories - Letting Agent Today

The 2020 presidential election has been a disaster for people who think the Electoral College is still a good idea. Joe Bidens clear victory has been followed by attempts by the incumbent president to induce Republican legislators and other elected Republican officials in five states he lost to ignore the certified vote counts in their states and substitute their partisan preferences for the voters decision. Now Congress will formally receive the electoral votes, after a series of attempts to subvert the democratic process, all made possible by the Electoral College.

An early salvo was a suit filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by the State of Texas and supported by 126 Republican House members and 18 Republican attorneys general asking the court to throw out the electors chosen by those same five states because Texas said it did not like the way they conducted their elections.

Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas filed suit asking the courts to declare that Vice President Mike Pence has the legal right to pick the next president himself under the 12th Amendment by ignoring the electoral votes for Mr. Biden cast by those five states. Instead, the Gohmert suit asks Mr. Pence to replace them with votes cast by the losing Trump elector slates in those states.

In response to public pleas from President Trump, Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has announced that he will join Republican members of the House in objecting to the votes of some states cast for Mr. Biden, thereby requiring separate votes by the House and Senate on those electors. This, in theory, could result in a deadlock that could be broken by the House voting with one vote for each state delegation for president, resulting in the election of Donald Trump to a second term after losing in both the popular vote and the Electoral College. The fact that Democrats hold a majority in the House makes this outcome unlikely, of course, but it is a viable gambit for future elections.

When the Electoral College was created, many conceived the United States as a confederation of sovereign states. And only a small percentage of the adult population could vote at all property-owning white males in many states and senators and the president were not elected by popular vote. Today the country is one of the longest-lasting democracies in the world, with almost all adult citizens entitled to vote for the president and members of Congress our Constitution and body politic are not what they were in 1787.

The presidential election is really 51 elections, each conducted and certified by its jurisdiction. Those who support the continued use of the Electoral College system say that the states speak to one another through it and so it performs a vital role in promoting national unity and the constitutional system.

But the multiple challenges to the votes of the people this year expressed through the states and their votes in the Electoral College teach us that the Electoral College is a fragile institution, with the potential for inflicting great damage on the country when norms are broken. Many of the attempts to subvert the presidential election outcome this year are made possible by the arcane structure and working of the Electoral College process and illustrate the potential for the current Electoral College to promote instability rather than the stability the framers sought.

When some state legislatures were pressed by President Trump to consider changing the outcome of the election, they all declined this time. But what would have happened if a majority of legislators in one or more states had decided to overrule the voters and reassert their constitutional authority to choose electors? The Electoral Count Act of 1887 gives the final say to governors the electors they certify are entitled to the presumption of legitimacy. What would have happened if some of the governors of the states Mr. Trump targeted had given in and certified Trump electors despite the official vote count in their states for Biden? We would have had a constitutional crisis of the highest order, calling into question our national commitment to democratic elections.

So as some Republicans have persisted in the view that a legislature or governor could have certified electors other than those chosen by the people and certified by state election officials, they have shown the Electoral College to be potentially dangerous. The possibility that politicians of either party could change an elections outcome through postelection manipulation of the Electoral College is destabilizing.

And the idea that the vice president, sitting in the chair as presiding officer of the joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, could decide on his own to ignore electors certified by the states and replace them with impostors certified by no one leads straight to the end of democracy. The push by Senator Hawley and Representative Gohmert and other Republicans to challenge duly certified electoral votes and attempt to have the citizens and states they represent be disenfranchised is another path to the same destination.

All of this will, and should, propel calls for modernization of the Electoral College. Many will seek its abolition and replacement by a single nationwide poll. But at the very least, the irrational intricacies of the 1887 Electoral Count Act should be replaced by a uniform system guaranteeing that the popular vote in each state controls the ultimate allocation of that states electors. The 2020 election has highlighted the destabilizing tendencies in the current system and the need for reform.

Mr. Potter is a former commissioner and chairman of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, was general counsel to John McCains two presidential campaigns and is founder and president of the Campaign Legal Center. Mr. Fried was the U.S. Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, is a professor at Harvard Law School and serves on the board of the Campaign Legal Center.

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Opinion | The Electoral College Isnt Supposed to Work This Way - The New York Times

January the 7th, 2021 - The Croatian Government has a lot on its plate, but one pressing question comes from the owners of catering and hospitality establishments who have suffered enormous losses until now. Their one single question is: When can we start working again?

As Poslovni Dnevnik wrires, although the current epidemiological measures which were adopted at the end of last year will cease in a few days, when it comes to precisely what will happen next, no one knows.

''In any case, the Croatian Government must adopt quality economic measures as soon as possible, because the problems we've been talking about for months haven't just disappeared,'' writes the Association of Entrepreneurs.

''Recently, the Voice of the Entrepreneurs (Glas Poduzetnika) Association sent a letter to the Croatian Government and the National Civil Protection Headquarters, in which we asked them to inform business owners about further economic and epidemiological measures as soon as possible. Namely, it was announced that the measures will last until January the 8th, 2021, of which we're not far away from. Business owners and artisans who had to close their doors now don't know when they'll be able to continue doing business at all.

There is no information on whether such people will be able to continue working or whether the restrictive measures will be extended. We consider that to be inadmissible.

We believe that the Croatian Government and the National Civil Protection Headquarters should inform business owners and craftsmen about further steps as soon as possible. Uncertainty has been going on for more than nine months for many and the situation is getting worse. Moreover, we still don't have an answer to the question about compensation for activities that are prevented from operating due to the measures. Business owners are interested in whether the Croatian Government will compensate them for the huge losses incurred due to business restrictions? Furthermore, many activities that aren't formally closed, such as passenger transport and travel agencies, are failing. Unfortunately, more and more people end up at the Croatian Employment Service, and we currently have 160,000 unemployed people. We believe that this trend will continue if quality economic measures aren't adopted soon.

We're fully aware of the new crisis we're experiencing, and we've transferred our available resources to help Sisak-Moslavina County, but the problems caused by the coronavirus crisis that brought tens of thousands of companies to their knees haven't simply disappeared.As a reminder, job preservation grants aren't an aid measure for business owners. In addition, this measure won't save the business of companies nor will it enable the recovery of the economy.

Many UGP committees sent out letters proposing measures that would allow companies and crafts to survive, however, they never received any responses. Business owners are being left to fend for themselves again, without any information on when they'll be able to resume work. We appeal to the Croatian Government to make decisions on the measures as soon as possible and to inform those affected about this.

Business owners showed care and solidarity in the period following the earthquake in Petrinja, and by working out in the field and donating goods and money, they came to the aid of the victims, but soon they will have to start thinking about their own survival again,'' reads the letter from the aforementioned association.

"We hope that the Croatian Government has an agenda and that in the next few months it will make sure that business owners and entrepreneurship don't enter even more troubled waters, and that the proper conditions for survival in this situation are provided. Legal changes, write-offs of taxes and contributions for the affected areas and the abolition of VAT payments for donated goods are necessary. Instead, the Croatian Government is proposing new commitments and various unnecessary Regulations on monitoring and reporting on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and measures to help the economy. In that way, it's merely createing yet more new and unnecessary paperwork, while the number of failing companies and the number of unemployed people is growing unstoppably day by day,'' said Drazen Orescanin, the executive director of the association.

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Business Owners Ask Croatian Government: When Can We Start Work? - Total Croatia News